SEM Glove

Remarkable assistive device for weak grip

Is your grip weaker than it should be due to accident, neurological condition or other illness? You can achieve a stronger grip and more power and endurance which you then can use in a very natural way with the SEM™ Glove.

The SEM™ Glove (Soft Extra Muscles for You) is a smart, wearable assistive aid to improve your "grip ability" when this has been weakened by illness or trauma.

The glove mimics the human hand by using artificial tendons, motors and sensors along with some very clever software. This approach is called "mechatronics" by engineers - but what you will care about is the result - a product that can help you can have the power and endurance in your fingers to get back to a more complete life.

Developed and tested by Bioservo Technologies in Sweden, we are providing assessment, support and sales in the UK

Who Should Use it?

The SEM™ Glove is a medical device designed to be used by any person with a weak grip. It is important that the user is able to move their fingers into a grip and extend the fingers again otherwise the glove can't help. People may suffer from impaired grip strength for countless reasons, such as muscle and nerve damage, muscle diseases, rheumatism and pain. The SEM™ Glove strengthens the grip and either compensates where power is lacking or adds extra force and endurance.

GRIP STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE IN A VERY NATURAL WAY

Typically the unit is worn on a belt

Every year another 60,000 UK stroke survivors will find hand and arm problems limiting their activities. With the total number of UK stroke survivors over 1 millions persons already, this is a challenge for society as a whole, as well as those affected.

When we also consider that Spinal Cord Injury, Peripheral Nerve Injury, Chronic Pain Syndrome and trauma also affect the hands of thousands, isn't it about time we had efficient and effective aids and rehabilitation tools? And what about conditions like MS, Rheumatoid arthritis and even the effects of ageing that impact so powerfully on quality of life?

The SEM™ Glove consists of two main parts:

Glove : The main purpose of the glove is to apply the forces generated by the motors in the control unit and to provide the control unit with sensory input from touch sensors at the fingertips. The forces are applied by artificial tendons that are sewn into the glove along the length of the fingers.

Control unit : The control unit contains a rechargeable battery power source, one motor for each finger which receives extra force and a micro-controller that controls the SEM™ Glove's functionality.

Who Should Use it?The SEM™ Glove is a medical device designed to be used by any person with a weak grip. People may suffer from impaired grip strength for countless reasons, such as muscle and nerve damage, muscle diseases, rheumatism and pain. The SEM™ Glove strengthens the grip and either compensates where power is lacking or adds extra force and endurance.

wear it and forget it

Who Can't Use it?The main reason that the product would be ineffective is a complete paralysis of the hand. The sensors in the fingers respond to the user's intention and ability to apply pressure to the object being gripped. If the person can't use the fingers at all, the device cannot sense the users intention.

How Do I Try it?We first must assess if the device is suitable for you. If it is, we will be able to adjust the settings so they suit your current grip issues. You will wear a snugly fitting glove on your affected hand. The thumb and two fingers have pressure sensors in the tips that are essential to the glove's function. A cable bundle connects the glove to a control pack that sits, for example, on your belt. Rechargeable batteries deliver around 8 hours use. Because the sensors in the glove operate based on touch pressure, you can wear another protective glove over the SEM Glove if necessary for, let's say, a particular work situation.

Pricing

UK Pricing is based on a Euro exchange rate with a system package of a control unit, appropriate size glove, batteries, battery charger and manual currently costing around £6,000. As the price will vary with the exchange rate please check with us for accurate price information.